The NFL had an opportunity to make a real stand on, well, standing for the national anthem.
It had an opening to step up and address legitimate social consciousness by its players.
But, in the end, it didn’t do very much of either Wednesday at its spring owners meeting in Atlanta. Instead, when it came time to confront a controversy that has roiled the league and divided fans the past two seasons, it did what each of its teams do, on average, five times a game.
It punted.
Its solution, basically: Players should stay in the locker room if they don’t want to stand for the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Anybody who goes onto the field and kneels, sits or otherwise does not “show respect for the flag and the anthem,” in the NFL’s view, will cause their teams to be fined.
It didn’t define what might constitute a “lack of respect.” John Carlos and Tommie Smith-like raised fists (1968 Olympics), for instance? Players linking arms, perhaps?
Nor did it say what amount the fines might be.
The old policy merely said players “should” stand for the national anthem but did not require them to do so.
But the new policy empowers teams to apply punishment to their players as they choose, opening a further can of worms in a league where ownership sentiments have ranged from not letting “inmates run the prison” (Houston) to tolerance (San Francisco).
Can a player be fined in Philadelphia when the same action might go unpunished in Seattle? And how is the NFL going to arbitrate that?
Naturally, this went over like a missed payday with the NFL Players Association, which said it was “not consulted or included” in the vote of the owners.
As voiced Wednesday, the owners’ latest policy is unlikely to settle the smoldering issue or placate any side in the debate. What it might do is challenge the players to test the league’s resolve.
We should not be surprised by the owners’ stance, of course. What the NFL is really about is stuffing more money in the already-bulging pockets of its owners.
That is something it — and commissioner Roger Goodell — have done very well in building what has become a $14 billion business.
The NFL wasn’t initially motivated to do much about the controversy last year until it showed signs of threatening their bottom line, a situation fanned further by President Donald Trump’s tweets.
Of course the NFL’s public embrace of service members and veterans at its events hasn’t always been strictly about patriotism, either.
Two years ago the NFL was publicly pressured to return $723,000 when it was learned the league was charging the Defense Department for the military tributes being held at NFL events.
CNN Money reported last year that “at least $7.75 million of the $106 million raised for Trump’s inaugural committee came from NFL owners and the league.”
And, what of the owners’ pledges last season to donate to groups addressing the kinds of injustices that prompted the players’ protests?
The owners who voted unanimously — but with abstentions — might be happy with their new policy for the moment. But it is doubtful anyone else will be once the season gets underway and the policy is seen for what it is. And, what it isn’t.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
